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Trevor Kindree (FreezenFire)

It is time for my wife and I to get another game to play with each other, and we would appreciate your advice. We tend to prefer medium-weight, low-luck eurogames or sometimes abstracts. She's not into sci-fi, horror or political themes. But instead of trying to list preferences, let me just tell you what has worked and what hasn't and you can go from there:Our favorite 2-player games:1) Caylus - 0 randomness makes this a winner2) In the Year of the Dragon - Lots of tension, and a surprising amount of depth for a relatively short play time3) Goa - Auctions that work well with 2!4) Hey, that's my fish! - more strategy than might appear at first glance5) Blokus Duo - simple but satisfying6) Concordia - very cozy

Honorable Mentions1) Vikings - Not enthralling, but satisfyingly enjoyable2) Reef Encounter - I like this a little more than she does; good tension and interesting on-board play3) Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation - Generally hidden information isn't my thing, but this game is both strategic and thematic. She has more mixed feeling, though. 4) Legends of Andor - Generally we don't go for cooperative games, but this one is engaging enough thematically that we enjoye it5) Small World - Light and amusing6) Ingenious

Major Flops1) Go - I love this, but she detests it. Too abstract.2) Agricola - At first I liked this, but with each play I began to despise it more and more. Just doesn't have the right kind of interaction - see my comments if you want to know more.3) Pandemic - One play taught us that we aren't really into cooperative games. Without competition, it's just kind of boring. With other people who like it, this game is fine, but for just the two of us it falls flat.4) Carcassonne H&G- The randomness in the tile draw makes this very frustrating for me

One of my wife's and mine absolute favorite Euro-style games to play when we are alone is Rococo. I only bought it because it was a really cheap offer - I thought it would be a unthematic cube-pusher-game with a pasted-on theme that does not appeal to me at all. But I was totally wrong. It's about running a business in the 18th century, hiring new people and sending them out to do stuff, all to become the most respected tailor. There are always interesting decisions to take. The mechanics are really nice and built around something like deck-building, but you can hand-select the cards you want to have in the next turn... and it's really great looking.

The board has 2 sides: one for 2-3 players and one for 4-5. It works good with all numbers.

If you can find it, I would highly recommend Fjords. I'd also recommend Morels (set collection), Tides of Time (2-player drafting that works really well), Arboretum (very thinky with tough decisions), and Matcha (set collection and some bluffing).

Finally, games that we both like but don't work well for 2: Puerto Rico...

The Puerto Rico 2-p variant is actually pretty good. I would recommend that you try it if you haven't.

We actually have played it, maybe half a dozen or a dozen times, a few years ago. I prefer the 3/2 over the 3/3 role selection so that no-one gets the back-to-back. I actually like 2-player Puerto Rico pretty well, and would gladly play it, but she says that whenever she plays it just makes her feel sad that we aren't playing with more people.

One of my wife's and mine absolute favorite Euro-style games to play when we are alone is Rococo. I only bought it because it was a really cheap offer - I thought it would be a unthematic cube-pusher-game with a pasted-on theme that does not appeal to me at all. But I was totally wrong. It's about running a business in the 18th century, hiring new people and sending them out to do stuff, all to become the most respected tailor. There are always interesting decisions to take. The mechanics are really nice and built around something like deck-building, but you can hand-select the cards you want to have in the next turn... and it's really great looking.

The board has 2 sides: one for 2-3 players and one for 4-5. It works good with all numbers.

Interesting suggestion. I played this game once with a local game group, and I strongly disliked it, but that might have been a product of player number. We had 5 players, and my issue with it is that I felt like I spent all of my time waiting around to see whether or not my plans would be destroyed by someone taking what I wanted before I could (which they always were). Very annoying; player interaction in all of the wrong ways (and yet a common mechanism).

However, with two players the dynamic is very different, because of course you are playing directly against each other, and so it wouldn't feel like someone "happened" to take what you wanted; it would be your opponent directly outthinking you. Vikings is like this - I don't really like it at all with 3 or 4 because it feels random and un-interactive, but with 2 players there is more direct confrontation and so it is fine.

I suppose it would depend in part on whether or not the other aspects of the game pulled me in to a sense of direct competition (as Caylus does) or gave the impression that I was "doing my own thing" (as Agricola does). But it is certainly worth revisiting.

Just looked up Patchwork; that definitely seems like it might be a good option. I think some people in our game group have it, so I might be able to try it out.

Same with Targi - definitely worth investigating further.

The GIPF project I am mildly familiar with, and have sometimes considered picking up Yinsh, but it has never quite made the cut. She would probably be more interested in one of the economic games like patchwork.

Still working on looking up some of the others that have been suggested.

Finally, games that we both like but don't work well for 2: Puerto Rico...

The Puerto Rico 2-p variant is actually pretty good. I would recommend that you try it if you haven't.

We actually have played it, maybe half a dozen or a dozen times, a few years ago. I prefer the 3/2 over the 3/3 role selection so that no-one gets the back-to-back. I actually like 2-player Puerto Rico pretty well, and would gladly play it, but she says that whenever she plays it just makes her feel sad that we aren't playing with more people.

One thing I like to do is to shuffle up the violet buildings and pull out 12 of them randomly (instead of just using one each as per the published 2P rules). I thinks it forces some improvisation and planning that makes it more like a multiplayer game, but I doubt that will get over her desire to play with more humans...

We had 5 players, and my issue with it is that I felt like I spent all of my time waiting around to see whether or not my plans would be destroyed by someone taking what I wanted before I could (which they always were). Very annoying; player interaction in all of the wrong ways (and yet a common mechanism).

What I dislike most in the 4- or 5-player game is that the board gets of crowded and it's difficult to keep the overview. And of course other players destroyed my plans quite often as well, but I always felt like still having some pretty good options left. Anyway: I would always prefer to play it with 2 or 3 players - and yes, there is a much better interaction between players.

Another game we really, really like is San Juan. It gives you quite a lot for a card game.

Thanks for the tip - I wasn't aware of that version, but it might be the one I want. More portable would be major plus, unless the pieces are small enough to interfere with playability.

No they are perfectly playable, occasionally pieces might end up not being perfectly aligned (which might be less of a problem with bigger heavier pieces but I've only played the pocket version). The tiles similar size to the tiles in Hey, That's My Fish! (but far thicker). It comes with a bag to put the tiles in so will fit in a reasonable sized pocket. It also includes Hive: The Mosquito & Hive: The Ladybug and is cheaper than the full sized version so I think Hive Pocket is the best version for most people.

This is a risky suggestion - definitely play it first, but Glass Roads might work. It's a Rosenberg but the conflict is much more direct then his other games, especially at 2 players.

There's role selection and you use the roles to maximize your actions while tryinG to actively reduce the number and the effectiveness of the other player's actions. Rah do has a run through if you want to check it out.

Another thought for you: what about Stronghold (2nd edition)? There is very little luck after setup (canon fire and pole attacks are a card draw from 6-ish card deck, ranged machinery like catapults are a card draw that can be mitigated), and it is a wonderful asymmetric 2-player. I highly recommend it!